Texas church shooting: Community gathers to mourn at first funerals for victims

Sutherland Springs, Texas is reeling from the loss of so many of their friends and family. Hear in their own words how they're leaning on each other and honoring the precious lives lost.
USA TODAY

First responders in Sutherland Springs, Texas, pray after a Veterans Day event on Nov. 11, 2017, near the First Baptist Church where a gunman killed 25 people including a pregnant woman.(Photo: Eric Gay, AP)

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas — Two of the 25 victims of this rural community's church shooting rampage were laid to rest here Saturday as a local pastor beseeched around 100 mourners to look out for each other in the days ahead.

“There’s going to be tears,” said Pastor Frank Pomeroy, who lost not only half his parishioners but also his 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, when Devin Kelley opened fire on First Baptist Church worshipers Nov 5.

“It’s OK. Pick up the phone. Knock on the door," Pomeroy said. "Remind one another that our sweet sister and brother stand in the presence of their heavenly father.”

Pomeroy presided over the burials of Richard and Theresa Rodriguez, both in their 60s, who had met late in life and shared a love of family and gardening. Their service was held at a church in their nearby hometown of La Vernia, and the couple was interred at Sutherland Springs Cemetery under a green tent and threatening skies.

On Sunday, Pomeroy is expected to gather his congregation for its regular service at around 11 a.m. local time. The service will take place at a building near First Baptist Church. Although the crime scene is scheduled to be demolished, members of the public and media will be allowed to enter the building Sunday afternoon to pay their respects to those who died there.

Saturday's events, which included a memorial, were particularly painful as they fell on Veteran's Day. Half the victims had connections to the Air Force. Kelley had himself been in the Air Force, but was kicked out due to bad conduct after pleading guilty to assaulting his former wife and her son.

Air Force officials failed to flag Kelley's record, which would have made him unable to buy the high-powered weapon he used in the attack.

Lilly Navejan is comforted after breaking down while visiting a memorial Nov. 10, 2017, where 26 crosses were placed to honor the victims killed at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on in Texas. Navejan lost her brother, Ricardo Rodriguez, in the shooting that left 25 dead including one who was pregnant. Ricardo will be buried next to his wife Therese, who was also killed in the church.(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)

As the events started to get underway Saturday, about 100 people gathered outside the Sutherland Springs community center for the memorial, sitting on folding chairs or standing amid red-white-and-blue bunting.

A color guard from St. Mary's ROTC presented the colors. A wreath was placed near flags honoring those slain. First responders and law enforcement officers stood in a circle, with heads bowed in prayer.

Wilson County Judge Richard Jackson’s voice broke as he thanked the emergency workers who rushed to the church to treat the wounded in a scene that will affect them the rest of their lives.

Jackson, the county’s top administrator, said he hopes the ceremony will start a healing process “to put this horrific tragedy behind us and look to the future.”

The Air Force chief of staff, Gen. David Goldfein, has said that 12 of those slain in the church shooting had direct connections to the Air Force, “either members or with family ties.”

The victims included the Rodriguez couple, a husband and wife who had met in the service more than 30 years earlier.

“I hope that this is the start of the healing that everyone here needs,” Jacksontold the USA Today Network. “That county has been in turmoil, and for a lot of folks, complete healing might never come. But it has to start, and that’s what I hope happened just now.”

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This April 16, 2017 photo provided by Torie McCallum shows Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting victims John and Crystal Holcombe in Floresville, Texas. John survived the shooting but his wife Crystal, who was pregnant, was killed along with three of their children Sunday, Nov. 5, at the church.
Torie McCallum via AP

This is Peggy Warden, she was a Sunday school teacher and threw herself in front of her grandson Zach Poston and was fatally shot as she protected the 18-year-old, who then shielded a child who had been hiding under a pew.
Jimmy Stevens, via AP

Zach Poston recovers at a hospital in San Antonio, TX. When a gunman opened fire onto the congregation at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Sunday school teacher Peggy Warden threw herself in front of her grandson Zach getting fatally shot as she protected the 18-year-old, who then shielded a child who had been hiding under a pew, according to relatives.
Jimmy Stevens, via AP

This 2017 photo provided by Torie McCallum shows Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting victims, from left, Megan Hill, Emily Hill, Greg Hill and survivor Evelyn Hill, bottom, in Floresville, Texas. Evelyn survived the Nov. 5 shooting at the church but her brother and sisters along with her mother, who was pregnant, were killed.
Torie McCallum via AP

This April 16, 2017 photo provided by Torie McCallum shows Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting victim Emily Hill in Floresville, Texas. Hill was killed along with her mother, who was pregnant, a brother and a sister at the church on Sunday, Nov. 5.
Torie McCallum via AP

This 2017 photo provided by the Holcombe Family shows Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting victim Megan Hill in Floresville, Texas. Hill was killed along with her mother, who was pregnant, a brother and a sister during the shooting at the church Sunday, Nov. 5.
Holcombe Family Photo via AP

This November 2016 photo provided by Torie McCallum shows Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting victim Greg Hill in Floresville, Texas. Hill died along with his mother, who was pregnant, and two of his sisters at the church on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017.
Torie McCallum via AP

This undated student ID photo released by the Seguin Independent School District shows Annabelle Pomeroy. The 14-year-old's parents, pastor Frank Pomeroy of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs and Sherri Pomeroy, were out of town when a man opened fire inside the church in the small South Texas community on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, killing more than two dozen, including Annabelle.
Seguin Independent School District via AP

This June 18, 2017, photo provided by Lorena Santos shows her relatives Therese Rodriguez and Richard Rodriguez in San Antonio, Texas. The couple were among those killed in the Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, at the shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Lorena Santos via AP

Undated photo of Shani Corrigan (left) and Robert Corrigan during Robert Corrigan's military retirement ceremony. Shani Corrigan and Robert Corrigan were two of the victims killed at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on November 5, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Clare County Veterans' Services